Nowadays, a restaurant can serve as a perfect reason for you to hustle to a city, and a single dish alone can even make a city famous...Now we are introducing Hangzhou cuisine. Do you want to embark on this special "gourmet journey"?
All districts and counties in Hangzhou have searched extensively and created a collection of 150 representative delicacies with Hangzhou characteristics. And after expert evaluation, 25 flagship stores, 19 demonstration stores and 28 experience stores have been selected among hundreds of counties and thousands of bowls of food. Now let’s check out who they are!
Zhiweiguan 知味观
It is a time-honored Chinese brand founded in 1913.
Featured Cuisine
Shelled Shrimps with Longjing Green Tea 龙井虾仁
The finest river shrimp are selected and served with Longjing green tea leaves to maintain a fresh and tender taste, as well as a slight fragrance of tea leaves.
Silver Cod with Chicken Sauce 鸡汁银鳕鱼
During cooking, the cod is coated with egg, so the outside texture is crispy but the inside is tender, and it is also seasoned with a delicious sweet and sour taste.
Weizhuang 味庄
It is a garden-style restaurant established in 2004 and offers superb lake views and famous Hangzhou dishes, innovative dishes and gold medal dishes.
Featured Cuisine
Crab Stir-fried with Orange 蟹酿橙
Carefully selected seasonal hairy crabs are steamed. Then the meat is stir-fried together with navel orange, creating a sweet and sour dish that can be enjoyed by all ages.
Mandarin Fish with Crab Sauce 金牌蟹汁鳜鱼
There is not only mandarin fish but also hairy crab sauce. The mandarin fish is firstly marinated in Cantonese style, then cooked in oil and seasoned with sauce, which is a unique blend of Chinese and Western culinary style.
Xin Bai Lu 新白鹿
Established in 1998, it is a popular and well-known restaurant in Hangzhou.
Featured Cuisine
Crisp West Lake Carp in Sweet and Sour Sauce 脆皮西湖醋鱼
It is improved and upgraded on the traditional West Lake Carp in Sweet and Sour Sauce. Although it still uses the sweet and sour sauce particularly for West Lake Carp in Sweet and Sour Sauce, it provides a slight fresh change of taste.
Chicken Wings Coated with Egg Yolks 蛋黄鸡翅
The perfect blend of salted egg yolks and chicken wings has attracted many fans. This dish has been popular for years and sells over 5,000 every day!
Zhang Sheng Ji 张生记
It is Hangzhou's golden brand for duck stew.
Featured Cuisine
Signature Duck Stew with Dried Bamboo Shoots 招牌笋干老鸭煲
It is a must-order signature dish. The duck meat is crispy and tender and the bamboo shoots are delicious, and the most important is that the soup is so tasty that you will never get tired of it.
Signature Dongpo Beef 招牌东坡牛肉
It is a modified version of Hangzhou cuisine. Beef is thickly sauced with red sauce and it tastes crispy without being greasy. Every bite will keep you coming back for more.
Hangzhou Cuisine Museum 杭帮菜博物馆
It is the first museum in the country that is dedicated to introducing Hangzhou cuisine.
Featured Cuisine
Codfish Ball 鳕鱼狮子头
Codfish is firstly skinned and boned and then cut into dice. Add salt, beat it and then make small balls and simmer together with chicken stock. The freshness of the fish blends with that of the chicken broth. The tender white fish looks very delicious.
Fenghui Lamb Chops 峰会羊排
Carefully selected lamb chops from Inner Mongolia are firstly cooked with seasonings, then roasted in the oven. Every bite is fragrant.
Wangyuanxing 王元兴
It is an old brand established in 1935 and provides mainly rural food of Tangxi.
Featured Cuisine
Meat Balls Coated with Sticky Rice 粢毛肉圆
As one of Tangxi's most famous dishes, it is made from fine pork and glutinous rice and is slightly larger than a table tennis ball. It is cooked according to the traditional recipe.
Fine Sandy "Sheep Tail" 细沙羊尾
It is made of bean paste, lard and egg white through the traditional making process. It looks like a sheep tail. Therefore it is named so. The red bean paste is handmade and added with rock sugar, so the taste is sweet and delicate.
Lanzuan International Castle Hotel 杭州蓝钻国际城堡酒店
Being engaged in food industry for over 30 years, this once small restaurant offers authentic Hangzhou cuisine.
Featured Cuisine
Shanju Fish Head 山居开胃鱼头
It is the hotel's bestselling signature dish and is available in a limited amount of 15-20 servings per day. The fish head is usually cooked with minced pepper or the original broth. But the hotel takes a different approach. It uses its own unique sour soup. Why is the broth so rich? It is because it's added with soy milk and eggs...
And pumpkin puree is also added to the soup to give it a golden yellow color. Cooked for 7-8 minutes together with freshly wrapped dumplings, it is very appetizing at first glance.
Castle Pig's Feet and Duck 城堡蹄鸭
It uses two-year-old ducks and pig's feet. And a dozen Chinese herbs are added. Therefore the taste is very special.
Qiandao Lake Yuweiguan 千岛湖鱼味馆
With over 40 years of history, it is a restaurant specializing in fish.
Featured Cuisine
Xiushui Fish Head 秀水砂锅鱼头
The organic fish head stewed in the water from Qiandao Lake boasts of rich white soup and delicate flesh, without MSG and other complex seasonings. It tastes very fresh. Most importantly, this creamy white broth looks like milk and offers a sweet aftertaste.
Xiushui Fish Swim Bladders 秀水鱼鳔
Choose the outer layers of swim bladders, which are full of collagen and also have a soft, sticky texture like Tangyuan, a kind of sweet dumplings made of glutinous rice flour served in soup.
After going through the top-recommended dishes from these excellent restaurants, would you like to give them a try? Then why not take your family or friends with you to eat at one of them?